1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in reactors and apparatus for the physicochemical treatment of substances in the solid, liquid or gaseous state.
2. History of the Related Art
Chemical or physicochemical phenomena occur at the interfaces of substances, i.e., at the contact surfaces of small agglomerates of solids, liquids or gases. It is also at the contact surfaces where forces of surface tension develop to generate molecular adsorption and desorption and where the dissolution of gases or their emergence and the dissolution or separation of liquids and solids from one another occur. The area of the contact surfaces is also where heat is exchanged and where pellicular sealing forces originate.
Consequently, the present invention is directed to apparatus adapted to create a high level of activation at the interfaces of substances by the non-turbulent division and reconstitution of such substances.
French Patent No. 1 562 004 describes an apparatus for making homogeneous mixtures from a plurality of substances in the pasty, pulverulent or fibrous state. The apparatus includes two screws with truncated cores which flare outwardly in the direction of their free ends which are placed in two adjacent bores which are communicated via longitudinal passages. The working volume in which matter is conveyed thus increases and decreases, in the same way, along each bore. The matter passes from one bore to the other, being methodically divided and recollated as it leaves one volume and occupies another of the same volume without being compressed or depressed. The screws cause the matter to move in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 3 of the Patent so that the matter arrives via orifice A and leaves via orifice B. This action of the screws produces a rapid creation of the solid and liquid interfaces in the constant volume created in the reactor.
Experience has shown that this structure hinders creation in liquid-gas and solid-gas interfaces and does not form, during operation, a free space which is large enough to allow dissolution or separation of gases from the reactor medium. This considerably limits the uses of such an apparatus. In fact, the production and management of the chemical reactions require that the gaseous phases also be controlled.
It is an object of the improvements of the present invention to overcome these drawbacks.